


hot and heavy and up all night

by TheSpaceCoyote



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [20]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Caretaker Kylo Ren, Caretaking, First Meetings, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Heat Stroke, Hurt/Comfort, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Related, M/M, Sick Armitage Hux, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 19:35:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19979383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpaceCoyote/pseuds/TheSpaceCoyote
Summary: Unwilling to pay the frankly exorbitant air conditioning rates his apartment charges, Kylo buys a swamp cooler to help him deal with the heat wave currently broiling the entire metropolitan area alive.But the allure of a cooler apartment attracts an unexpected guest—Kylo's stuffy, foreign-born neighbor, who may be suffering from the heat more than he's willing to admit.





	hot and heavy and up all night

**Author's Note:**

> I busted out like 90% of this fic between 3am and 6am this morning. I haven't really written something all in one go in awhile, so it was a nice feeling.
> 
> Done for KyluxXOXO Week 4, making a bingo with the words ice, weapon, and fan. I had this image of a modern AU where Hux and Kylo live in the same apartment building and, during a heat wave, Hux sneaks in through Kylo's open window because his apartment is far cooler. I also have been wanting to write Kylo caring for Hux through heat exhaustion for awhile, so I had to add that!
> 
> Enjoy this silly fic!

It didn’t help matters that Kylo had forgotten to lock the window before going to bed that night.

He’d been keeping it open for days now, any breeze—no matter how warm and smelling of asphalt it was—a welcome relief to the stuffy, overheated apartment. In his haste to unpack his eagerly anticipated package, Kylo had merely shut the window to keep out the noise of car horns below, not caring when it swung back slightly ajar. 

Purchasing the swamp cooler had been the most exciting thing Kylo had done in weeks. Especially with the recent heatwave, it felt like he’d been blessed with a miracle. The moment he’d plugged it in and heard it whir into life, a huge weight had lifted off his shoulders as the first kiss of cool air drifted against his sticky, humid skin. _Fuck_. It’d felt so good, almost like an orgasm. Kylo had let out a moan and sat right in front of it, grabbing the hem of his shirt and fanning it against his abdomen to get even more air onto his body. 

Kylo spent the rest of the evening roughly planted in the same spot, moving only to chew on a couple of ice chips and grab a soda and a leftover wrapped sandwich from lunch from the fridge. By the time he gave into the pull of sleep, he felt cooler than he had in weeks. 

Still, Kylo decided to curl up in bed in only his briefs, kicking his comforters onto the floor and stretching his body out atop just a thin sheet and a pillow flattened by excessive use. He wanted to feel all the power of the cooler against his bare skin, relishing in the relief he’d only found in air-conditioned cafes and YMCA pools over the past week or so. Before long, he finally managed to fall into a sound sleep, loud snores rumbling through the thin walls of his bedroom as he drooled over the black hair fanned out and stuck to his pillow. 

Kylo was still snoozing by the time the cheap alarm clock by his bed clicked over to three a.m. It was a relic from the previous tenant left behind in the apartment but Kylo hardly used it—he might be living in an old apartment with rattly, over-priced AC and paint peeling in the corners, but he, like every normal person his age, used only his phone to set reminders and tell the time. Of course, with the following day free from work and temporarily between freelance projects, he had no reason to get up early. Which was great, because with the swamp cooler bringing down the temperature in the apartment, Kylo was finally able to get a sound night’s sleep.

That was, until a sudden _crash_ coming from his living room jolted him awake. 

At first, Kylo thought he had only imagined it, figuring the sound must’ve stemmed from the tail-end of some heat-induced nightmare or another unit in the apartment complex. But another crash, followed by a softer _thump_ pulled Kylo into full-wakefulness. He sat up, heart suddenly pounding. 

_Shit._

Kylo lived on the seventh floor but that didn’t exactly erase the possibility of intruders. A fire escape latticed up and down the brick building outside and the locks on the doors weren’t exactly up to code. He had a chain latch on the front entrance but often forgot to close it properly. Fuck. _Fuck_.

Kylo continued to swear internally, kicking past-him around inside his head for his own stupidity as he scrambled out of bed as quietly as he could. His thigh scraped against the corner of the nightstand but he bit down on a hiss of pain, not wanting to alert whoever might’ve broken into his apartment just yet. 

He bent over and carefully picked up one of the smaller barbells he kept in his bedroom, hefting it in his palm. It wouldn’t make for the most effective weapon with its short reach, but at least Kylo could probably fend off any intruder if he got a good couple whacks in. And if not, well—he always had his fists, and a mean chokehold if he could get his hands on the guy and wrestle him to the floor. 

Kylo stuck to the wall as he made his way towards the hall, ears sharp and tuned to the sounds in his apartment. The gurgle of the sink was familiar, as was the distant rumble of the swamp cooler. He tried to listen past that, for more of the same noises that had woken him up as he nudged the door to his bedroom open a little further, just enough for him to slip his body through the gap. 

Kylo tightened his grip on the handle of the weight as he skirted down the hallway, trying to tread lightly despite his bulk. Another _thump_ echoed from the living room, prickling goosebumps along the back of Kylo’s neck. There was definitely somebody in his apartment. Someone who didn’t belong here. 

Once Kylo reached the end of the hallway he peered around the corner, trying not to jump when he scanned the living room and found a dark, human-shaped shadow standing out against the faint glow of his window. He tensed, trying to remain inconspicuous and hoping to take the figure by surprised. He counted to three in his head, fingers wrapping tightly around his makeshift weapon as he felt around for the switch beside the door frame. 

Without warning Kylo snapped the light on and raised the weight high above his head, startling the intruder with an aggressive, warning bark and nearly sending him careening back out the open window. But instead of fleeing when confronted with a burly, mostly-naked man wielding a twenty pound barbell, the intruder shot back:

“What the hell is your problem?” 

Kylo faltered, defensive anger hobbled by sudden confusion. He gaped, still holding the weight aloft as he took in the sight before him. The intruder had one leg in the living room and the other tucked up against the windowsill, his palm flat and braced against the dirty glass of the open pane. A potted plant and one of Kylo’s boxed Darth Vader figures lay scattered on the floor, knocked from the side table usually positioned just underneath the window. A pretty clumsy entrance all told, for a thief.

But Kylo suddenly didn’t feel all that certain that was the case. If this guy was really a thief, then he hadn’t really thought his disguise through. Kylo would recognize that crop of red hair anywhere, and the silky brocade robe he wore wouldn’t exactly blend in with a crowd or survive a police line-up. He looked more like an ingenue in an old-time movie or a fey Disney villain than a hardened criminal eager to strip Kylo’s apartment bare. 

_So what the fuck was going on?_

“My problem? What’s your problem? The hell are you doing in here?” Kylo replied gruffly, not yet fully lowering the hand weight. Sure, the guy looked skinny and unsteady on his feet, but looks could be deceiving. Kylo’s cousin was nearly a foot shorter than him and pretty petite but if he wasn’t paying attention while they were sparring she could easily throw him over one shoulder or ensnare him in a headlock. 

“S-So coarse...is that any way to treat someone who just...needs a little relief?”

“Relief?” Kylo raised an eyebrow. “Considering you broke into my apartment...I think the way I’m treating you is fair. You’re lucky I didn’t brain you with this right away.” He hefted the hand weight up in emphasis, before letting it swing his arm back down by his side. 

“Break in?” The man scoffed, clumsily crossing his arms. More hair fell over his creased forehead. “Your window was _open_. I merely...took advantage.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t make you sound like a criminal at all,” Kylo mumbled, but he felt far less worried about the intruder, especially now that he recognized him. After the initial shock wore off he’d quickly identified him as one of his neighbors from a couple units down. Kylo realized now he didn’t actually know the guy’s name, but he had seen him around the apartment complex several times over the past couple months of his lease. 

He was cute, and Kylo was weak for that accent—he’d heard snippets of it from time to time in the hall whenever his neighbor had spoken with the super about some issue or another. But Kylo had never really been struck with enough motivation or courage to try talking with him one-on-one. They passed each other in the lobby somedays and brushed hips slipping out of the tiny laundry room on occasion and maybe Kylo had looked over his shoulder to check out the view from the rear once or twice, but that had been it. He hadn’t really expected their relationship, if one could even call it that, to progress to anything else.

And now he was standing in the middle of Kylo’s living room at three a.m. with barely any clothes on. 

“Don’t...you dare throw around such accusations,” the man scoffed, pulling his tucked leg off the windowsill so he stood completely inside the apartment. Kylo noted him kneading the carpet with his toes and swaying slightly, buffeted by the current of the swamp cooler that picked at the hem of his robe. “I’m no criminal. I merely...have good self-preservation instinct.”

“Then what are you doing here? If your instinct is as good as you say it is, wouldn’t you stay away from breaking into someone’s place and risking them busting your skull open?” Kylo knew he should probably call the police, at the very least the super, but he held off for now. He didn’t feel all that threatened, just confused. 

The man’s lips stuck together slightly, sticky with gunk and dried sweat-salt at the corners as he tried to speak. 

“It’s...it’s so cool in here, I thought...I don’t have anything to help in my apartment, and when I tried to open the door I broke the fucking lock so now it’s lodged shut, I couldn’t...it’s so _cool_ in here,” the man almost whined, his voice soft and breaking. His eyes fluttered closed and he wobbled for a moment, before he pried them back open like he was trying to force himself to stay awake. 

“This damn heat...I don’t know how you Americans survive. It’s turned my apartment into an oven. I would’ve cooked like a Christmas goose in there if I h-hadn’t escaped,” the man’s words tapered off in a hoarse groan, his throat working as if he was having a hard time swallowing. For a moment, his eyes lost focus again, before he blinked the fogginess away in rapid succession. 

“You know...you don’t look so good.” Kylo was no doctor but he could sense when something was amiss. The guy appeared deeply flushed in some places but deathly pale in others, like something had painted his skin in blotches with a fat brush. His hair looked like it was normally neat and well-clipped but right now stuck up in odd tufts like the fur of a stray cat. 

Before Kylo could stop himself, he was closing the gap and pressing the back of his hand against the stranger’s forehead like his mother used to when he was still a kid. The hand weight dropped with a _thump_ against the floor and rolled away from the pair as Kylo felt for a temperature. To his shock, his skin radiated feverish heat yet felt soft and bone-dry to the touch. The guy was flushed from head to toe but not sweating at all, every last inch of moisture in his body evaporated out of him. 

“Shit,” Kylo growled, retracting his hand, “you’re really burning up.”

“O-Of fucking course I am, were you...not listening to a word I said?” The man slurred, belatedly lifting his hand to swat at Kylo’s and nearly losing his balance. “F- _fuck_...my...my head…”

Kylo lunged forward and caught him as he bent backwards, supporting his sudden dead weight before he hit the ground.

“ _Shit,_ ” Kylo repeated, keeping one arm cinched around the man’s waist as the other cradled the back of his head, supporting it up on the limp neck. “Are you okay?”

The man only mumbled in response, his lids fallen halfway over his eyes. Kylo could see his cloudy irises moving rapidly beneath the thin red lashes, not focusing on much for very long. _Fuck._ Not good. 

Kylo’s first instinct was to call 911, but he stopped himself. He was on his third strike with the super. Inviting paramedics into his apartment at three a.m. might piss him off enough to send Kylo packing. And he was in between his more high paying freelance jobs—not the ideal position when it came to apartment hunting. Plus, with the hole he’d punched in the bedroom wall and tastefully covered with a poster of his favorite band, he probably wouldn’t be getting his deposit back either.

So, against his better instinct, Kylo decided to take matters into his own hands.

“It’s gonna be alright, man. Lemme just cool you down.” Kylo bent over and scooped up his unexpected guest properly, supporting his limp weight against his chest as he carried him towards the bathroom like a groom with a new bride. The man let out a soft noise, his face turning towards Kylo and resting against his pec as he adjusted his grip on him. Already rapid breath quickened against his bare skin, as if he hadn’t the strength to draw a full inhale into his lungs, which made Kylo’s own pulse race in worry. Fuck. _Fuck!_ He had to stay calm and work fast before something really bad happened and he had an overheated corpse on his hands.

Kylo rested the man in the limescale-streaked bathtub and immediately turned on the water, letting it sputter all over the pair of limp feet resting near the drain plug. Numbly, Kylo noted he had pretty nice toes, well-manicured and pearly-pink, before he snapped out of it and remembered to peel the robe off of the man’s body lest it get ruined by the water. He thumbed the soft fabric briefly, rubbing over the raised patterns of paisley blooming like rain clouds across the silky black sky, before folding it up to the best of his ability and setting it atop the toilet lid. 

The man groaned softly at his sudden nakedness, thighs pressing together to hide himself even while half-conscious. Kylo, trying to act like a gentleman, averted his eyes from the man’s groin only for them to rest upon the slightly elevated rise and fall of his chest. With the robe now removed Kylo could see a lot more of it, from the rib indents branching out from his sternum to the unusually small nipples dotting each pectoral. His body contrasted with the hard, tired lines in his face, though even those had softened a bit with unconsciousness. 

He wasn’t far from the sort of guy Kylo might pick up at a bar or offer to spot at the gym. All told, he supposed he could do a lot worse when it came to feverish window-intruders looking to leech off his swamp cooler. 

With one hand supporting the man’s head to make sure he wouldn’t accidentally slip under the filling water and drown, Kylo clumsily typed out “ _how to treat heat exhaustion_ ” into the search browser on his phone and waited for the results to load. He tapped his fingers idly against the screen, watching the man in the tub out of the corner of his eye. A soft moan drifted from his lips, thin eyelids still trembling. 

“Easy, Red. I’ve got you. Just gonna cool you down, alright?” Kylo spoke aloud, knowing that in this state the man probably couldn’t understand him. But it made Kylo feel like he was doing something as he waited for his inadvertent patient’s body temperature to drop within the normal, safe range. 

_Don’t immediately immerse the victim in freezing water, it may cause them to go into shock_ , Kylo read. Okay, good—the water wasn’t like that, right? He momentarily rested the man’s head against the rim of his tub to check the temperature of the faucet, sticking his fingers into the stream splashing down over Red’s legs. It felt slightly chillier than lukewarm at best. With the heat wave frying the whole city down to the pipes, the water probably couldn’t get too cold on its own. Okay. Awesome. Kylo hadn’t inadvertently done something to kill the guy in his effort to save him. 

_Half fill the tub with water, then slowly add ice to bring the bath to the proper temperature_ , Kylo continued to read, careful not to skip a single line in the instructions. Red’s life could very well sit in his hands, and Kylo knew he couldn’t screw up, even if he hadn’t exactly asked for his night to unfold like this. 

Kylo nestled the man’s head between a liter bottle of three-in-one shampoo and a rarely used scrub brush, hoping it would be enough to keep it in place as he scampered off to retrieve ice. Kylo moved quickly, not eager to leave Red alone for very long regardless. 

He grabbed an oversized mug from the cabinet, so comically large it might as well be a novelty, and started to fill it with ice from the refrigerator dispenser. He wished he had a bigger bucket to make the process easier, but he’d thrown out the one he used to catch droplets from the leaky ceiling during the winter months awhile back, as it’d started to grow mold. 

Kylo returned to the bathroom to find the tub filled halfway with water, so he stopped the faucet and begun to fill the other half with ice per the directions on his phone. He checked in with Red after pouring each mugful into the bath, pressing his finger underneath his jawline to measure his pulse. While it remained fast for the first couple of minutes as the tub’s contents cooled around him, before long it started to even out to a more normal pace. Kylo breathed a sigh of relief, dumping one last load of ice into the bath before leaving his mug in the sink and returning to Red’s side. 

“Bet that feels a lot better, huh?” Kylo stated aloud as he sat down beside the tub, checking the instructions one last time to figure out whether there was still anything he needed to do to ensure that Red recovered properly. It wasn’t entirely necessary, but Kylo retrieved a little hand towel as well as some painkillers from the medicine cabinet, wetting the former in the chilled water and placing it on Red’s forehead. He twitched slightly at the rough brush of terrycloth, but otherwise didn’t protest. Kylo scanned the phone one final time, frowning at the last instruction. 

_Wait until the victim regains consciousness or their body heat stabilizes—_ damn it, how was he supposed to be patient after all that? Kylo sat back down against the now damp bath mat, crossing his legs and folding his arms atop the edge of the tub. He watched Red intently for a moment, adjusting the towel on his forehead whenever it slipped down over his eyes. He even dipped his fingers in the water, dripping a couple droplets over Red’s lank hair. 

Before long Kylo found his gaze drifting to the man’s soft, slightly parted lips. They looked a little chapped from the heat and maybe some nervous nibbling on Red’s part, but still pretty damn kissable. A tender, pink little bow in the middle of an almost porcelain pale face that he suddenly wanted to claim. 

Kylo caught himself before he could lean forward and give into the temptation. He covered his mouth with his hand and sighed at himself. _Jeez_. Maybe he was delirious from the heat too. After Red was finished he might need to hop in the ice bath himself, to cool off in more ways than one. 

Kylo looked away from Red and opened up his phone, hoping to find a distraction as he waited for his patient to recover. He thought about texting Rey to tell her about the night’s events, but one—it was late and he knew she taught kickboxing in the morning on Saturdays—and two, she would never believe him. He could hear her voice in his head, laughing at him and stating he watched too many pornos with terrible contrived plots for his own good. She probably wouldn’t take him seriously unless she heard confirmation from Red himself. 

“You know, if I’d known buying a swamp cooler would bring all the cute guys to my place, I would’ve done it a lot sooner,” Kylo joked weakly as he turned off his phone, emboldened in his admission by Red’s semi-conscious state. Of course, he wasn’t actually serious. The guy was cute, sure, but heat stroke wasn’t exactly the basis for a functional relationship. Kylo wasn’t anywhere near the Florence Nightingale type. Besides, Red might even get upset with Kylo when he woke up and learned he hadn’t bothered to call an ambulance or get him professional help, instead opting for instructions gleaned from a quick internet search. Not to mention that Kylo, a complete stranger, had seen him stark naked before even learning his name. 

Still, he couldn’t exactly lug Red back to his apartment, especially if the lock on his door really was busted. So Kylo supposed he’d have to suck it up for now and let the man spend the night, putting off any unpleasant reactions until the morning came. 

Finally, Kylo felt confident enough that Red’s body temperature had reverted back to normal. His breathing had evened out, and when Kylo touched his forehead he no longer felt that he was burning up so badly he couldn’t even sweat. So once Kylo retrieved a stack of towels from the hall closet he reached into the bath, between Red’s legs, and unplugged it, letting the mostly melted ice water drain out. 

Red shifted, his head turning to the side at the sudden change. His eyes slowly flickered open, a lot more focus floating in those stormy irises now as he looked up at Kylo. He tried to smile and look comforting, but resisted the urge to reach forward and rest his hand against the other man’s forehead again. 

“How are you feeling?” Kylo asked instead. 

“Tired…” Red croaked after a moment, swallowing down a lump in his throat. He made a valiant effort to keep his eyes open and continue speaking, but quickly succumbed to his exhaustion and slumped back against the tub. Kylo checked his pulse one more time but it was stable, his breathing returned to the serene pace of a man asleep. That was probably for the best—the guy probably needed proper rest after such an ordeal. 

Red’s robe was still damp with sweat and probably needed a good, delicate wash, so Kylo hung it up on the peg in his bathroom to be dealt with later and retrieved a clean shirt from his chest of drawers once Red was properly dried off. It wasn’t much and took a hot second to wrangle his limp limbs into, but it hung all the way down to the middle of his thighs like a screen-printed nightgown, so fine. Red, with his dignified features, looked pretty funny clad in an oversized _Knights of Ren_ : _2015 World Tour_ T-shirt but at least it was soft and covered up his nether regions. He couldn’t accuse Kylo of any impropriety that way, right?

Briefly, Kylo thought about letting Red sleep on the couch but he still worried about his health, so after a moment of looking between his open bedroom door and the living room he eventually carried Red over to the bed, laying him down on one side as he smoothed out the sheets on the other before scooting him over. Kylo sacrificed his well-loved pillow to his unexpected house guest, sliding it under Red’s head and snatching an old sweatshirt from over the back of his desk chair, balling it up as a makeshift rest for his head. 

Red mumbled and curled onto his side, facing the center of the bed. Kylo carefully lay down beside him, pulling the thin sheet up over both of their legs after a moment of hesitation. He didn’t want Red to overheat again, obviously, but with the ice bath and the swamp cooler running at full blast, he might actually get a bit chilly as he slept. 

Though Red looked a lot better now that he was out of immediate danger. His skin no longer appeared blotchy, and the cold water Kylo had trailed through his hair had washed out a lot of the sweat matting the ginger locks. Now that he was sleeping, instead of forced into unconsciousness by his high body heat, he looked far calmer and less distressed, which helped to almost put Kylo at ease and allow him to accept the lure of sleep once again. But something still troubled him. 

Red had mentioned a broken lock in passing, blaming it for his late-night window intrusion. And maybe that’d just been the delirium talking, but if that was the truth then that was _seriously_ unsafe and not up to building code at all. Red could’ve died in that apartment if he hadn’t escaped and snuck in through Kylo’s window, been cooked alive and left to rot in the summer heat until some other tenant noticed the smell.

Kylo’s heart tugged as he brushed his hand through Red’s hair, smoothing his little fringe off his forehead. He wondered how far up he could take this if he broached the subject with the super. Kylo hadn’t seen his mother in years, but he knew from past galas he’d been dragged to that she had a couple high-priced civil attorneys as friends. Much as he didn’t see eye-to-eye with his parents, he knew they had a weakness for causes of social justice. Maybe they could help take the whole management company down a peg. 

At the very least, maybe Kylo could get his deposit back so he could finally get out of this place and move somewhere nicer. 

And it was a long shot, but as he drifted off to sleep, Kylo hoped maybe Red—or whatever his real name was—would want to come with him. After all, surviving in the city was always a lot easier if one had a roommate to look out for them.

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe a bit contrived and unrealistic, but I had fun with it. I hope you guys did too!
> 
> Hit me up on [Tumblr](http://thethespacecoyote.tumblr.com) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/heir_of_breath7/).


End file.
